Informal Thoughts on Service of Process from a Portland Process Server

When someone asks me what service of process means, the bottom-line, in my opinion, is helping to provide an individual with his/her constitutional rights to due process.  This is the first step in protecting that person’s rights so that he/she can be adequately notified of any charges or proceedings and can be heard in the proceedings.  As a process server, I act as a messenger letting a respondent or defendant know that someone wants to dispute, but I am not the one who wants to dispute.  I am not there to bother or harass someone.

I often think about how disputes were solved and how notice was made prior to us having the rules and laws that we have in place now.  I think about when the west was wild and you only came into town once a month or less.  Service was made just by attaching a notice to the Sheriff’s office wall or printed in the newspaper.  The opposing parties had a lot of time to plan and push their case through the court system while you are obliviously going about life happily.  The next thing you know the Sheriff is at your home taking all your belongings or kicking you off your own land.  Some statutes still have it written saying something in line with: everything can be taken but you must leave one hunting rifle and one horse or mule.  Thinking about having everything taken away from me and my family without getting a chance to fight back really disturbs me.  If someone has a problem with me then I want to hear what the problem is and then we can deal with it.  I want to be notified so I can be informed and prepare and defend my family, property and myself.  I want to be sure that others have this opportunity as I would want.

What My Years of Service of Process in Portland, Oregon has Taught Me

I’ve served process in Portland for many years and experienced a wide variety of reactions from respondents or defendants when I am serving them.  I’ve encountered people who understand, people who are outraged, people who hide and people who are violent.  I don’t expect everyone to be civilized when I am a process server serving process.  I don’t expect everyone to be aware that I am coming.  What I do expect when serving process is that the respondents or defendants carry themselves in a manner in which they would want to be treated if they were the ones serving process.  That is what I keep in mind when serving process.  I treat those I serve as I would want to be treated.  Unfortunately, however, there have been times I’ve had to treat or react to people in a different manner, because they forced me to do so even though I tried everything I could to complete the service and end it peacefully.  Many times a person will react initially unfavorably, but after I explain to him/her why I am there in a peaceful and careful way, our interaction ends amicably.

If you ever decide to be a process server and serve process, be a professional.  Know the laws, know the rules and act in a manner that you would want a process server to act when serving you.  Remember that this is ‘not the movies’ and most often the people who are being served have had some hard times in their life and don’t need you to add to their stress.